Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, December 31, 2023, or: Weekend Update, Part the Second (New Year’s Eve Edition)

Late Morning, Sunday, December 31, 2023, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. I hope that you are doing well today, which is (depending on where you are right now) either the last day of 2023 or the first day of 2024.

For me, it’s late morning on the last Sunday (and day) of 2023. It’s a nice day, at least as far as the winter weather in New England is concerned; the current temperature is 31°F/0°C under sunny skies. The feels-like temperature is 43°F/6°C, and the forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 37°F/3°C. The low tonight is expected to reach 20°F/-7°C.

Well, here in the Eastern time zone of the United States – which, thankfully, is the same time zone where I’ve lived for most of my life – it is still morning on the last day of 2023. I can’t say that I’m sorry to usher the year out, yet – since I am homesick and sad about the circumstances of my move here – I also can’t say I’m thrilled.

I’m glad that I’m not dead, that I have a roof over my head, the means – for now, at least – to put food in my belly, and friends next door who are renting two rooms in this house in the Edelweiss district of Madison. Eventually, once the settling-in process is complete I should be feeling more at home here despite my aversion to cold weather…and hopefully, my feelings of being exiled to New England will someday fade to a dull ache in the depths of my subconscious.

I’m not going to bore you with a detailed progress report of the aforementioned “settling-in” process. Suffice it to say that (a) some of the IKEA bookshelves are assembled – albeit differently from the way they were back in Florida – and stocked with books and magazines, and (b) I am now wearing my trusty walking shoes with Velcro straps instead of the newer ones with shoelaces. (I like my new shoes, and I’m grateful for them, but even at 60 I still have a hard time tying the laces.)

My Day…So Far

I have been up for almost four hours now; I almost woke up for good at the ungodly hours of 5 and 6 AM thanks to the predawn chill that sometimes gets in the house even though my housemate Stuart has the heating on now. Thankfully I went back to an uneasy sleep both times, otherwise, I’d be tired and irritable. As I said earlier, I’m not fond of frigid winter weather, and the low temperatures make me want to just stay in bed and watch TV or read all day.

I’ve already had my two cups of “American” coffee and a couple of slices of raisin bread. I should supplement that with something a bit more substantial, but my appetite is suppressed now. Maybe I’ll fix something for lunch later.

I didn’t plan on this, but today I treated myself to the digital version of the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny soundtrack on Amazon Music. (Hey, I already arranged for my bank in Florida to pay my rent for December and January….) I would have preferred the CD, but third-party sellers have apparently bought all of the compact discs in the e-retailer’s stock, and the going price for one is $75.99. (If there’s a more proper time for me to utter “What the fuck?” about something today, seeing a relatively new CD – Walt Disney Records released Dial of Destiny’s soundtrack in June – going for $75.99 on Amazon surely would be it.)

As I said, I didn’t wake up with a yen to buy a “luxury” such as a soundtrack album, but I need to raise my spirits now that I’m living on the ice planet Hoth…er, in New Hampshire, which, depending on how you look at the geography, is either Almost Canada or Almost Maine.

Some Good News….

Yesterday, as is my habit, I checked my Dashboard in my Kindle Direct Publishing account. I looked at the Reports section and saw, to my surprise, that someone, somewhere bought a paperback edition of Reunion: A Story on December 29, thus raising my sales for December 2023 to nine processed orders and bringing my estimated royalties to $25.14 for the month.

While Stephen King, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and Danielle Steel don’t have to worry about my joining the Bestselling Authors’ Club just yet, I am thankful that some of you out there bought my first attempt at writing fiction for publication.

So, yeah. I might be homesick and feeling a bit…less than thrilled, let’s say, about life in general, but knowing that I “made a sale…or two…or nine” does lighten my mood somewhat.

Now, if only I could join that Bestselling Authors’ Club…..

On Writing

It’s Sunday, December 31, 2023, which means that (a) it’s a “holiday” and (b) a day off from the regular workweek, so the only writing-related activities I’ll be pursuing today will be:

• The blog post you are reading now
• Adding a few more quotes from Reunion: A Story to my Goodreads Author’s Page
• Social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

I don’t plan to work on Reunion: Coda today, even though part of my mind feels like shit because I have not touched the manuscript since before Thanksgiving. And if my feelings weren’t all over the place because of my present circumstances, maybe I’d do some revising and editing to what I’ve written since March.

But…I’m still in the “Why did this happen to me?” stage of coping with my new reality, so I will just leave my manuscript alone till after the New Year has rung in and all that.

I still want to complete the book in time for a Spring 2024 release. Let’s hope my state of mind improves soon so I can get back to work on my first novel.

That’s all that I have to share with you on this, the last morning – for me – of the year, so adios, amigos.